Fire!
“The sight that met our eyes was terrible. Fire was raging in a half a dozen different …places…The heat was overpowering and all that saved the town was the absence of wind.”
—Jessica Lamont, 1906
After the shaking stopped, fire claimed four or five city blocks and several lives. The fire moved through the downtown after being ignited, perhaps by toppled stoves or downed power lines. Explosions occurred when the fire reached several broken gas mains. In some cases, the force shattered the cast-iron mains.
The fire department struggled to get to the flames, which likely started near the corner of Third and B Streets. Firefighters were forced to haul the pump engine by hand in order to navigate through the debris.
Fire deaths were particularly distressing. A former city official, Miles H. Peerman, was nearly freed from a collapsed building on Fourth Street when his would-be rescuers were driven away by flames. Peerman burned to death.
